Thursday, February 16, 2012

02/16/2012
The official who really should be
impeached is President Aquino while the rest of his mouthpieces and
other officials should be fired, and along with him, his lapdogs in the
Senate and the House of Representatives thrown out of their seats.

Noynoy
is one president who has, what can really be said, betrayed the public
trust for committing the high crime of deliberately moving to destroy
the very fabric of the tripartite Republican State which the Filipino
people have decreed and ordered him, as President of the Republic, to
uphold, defend and obey.

Since he has publicly shown in too many
instances disobeying the decree of the Filipino people, as ratified by
them of the 1987 Constitution, then he is betraying the public trust..... MORE

“Under the Aquino administration, public health services are no
longer free but they come for a fee.” – Alliance of Health WorkersBy INA ALLECO SILVERIOBulatlat.com

Employees in the health sector led by the Alliance of Health Workers
(AHW) and allied organizations under the Health Alliance for Democracy
(HEAD) held a protest action in Mendiola, on Valentines Day, against the
policy of the Benigno Aquino III administration of “cutting
allocations for health services and benefits of rank and file health
workers.”

(Photo by Ina Alleco Silverio / bulatlat.com)

The AHW is opposing the Department of Health (DOH) department order
no. 2012-0002, which effectively reduces the subsistence and laundry
allowance of health workers by P30/working day ($0 .70) and P130/month
($3.02) respectively. The group has already sought clarification from
the Department of Budget and Management (BDM), but the agency insisted
that the reduction of benefits was “a policy decision.”

In the meantime, the AHW is also wary against the delay in the
release, or worse, the probable reduction or removal of their hard-won
benefits such as hazard pay and others stipulated in the Magna Carta of
Public Health Workers (RA 7305) because the DBM decided to take away the
“savings” in the unfilled plantilla positions from which the benefits
are sourced.

Last month on January 11, the DOH released order number 2012-0002
addressed to all undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, bureau/service
directors, medical center chiefs of all government-run hospitals
regarding the payment of magna carta benefits to officials and employees
of the DOH.

(Photo by Ina Alleco Silverio / bulatlat.com)

In it, the DOH led by secretary Enrique Ona said the subsistence
allowance and laundry allowance of employees will be adjusted effective
that same month. The memo also declared that the payment of hazard and
longevity pay charged from any available savings of all government
health offices and hospitals will be subject to the DBM’s approval.

Increase in health budget goes to contractualization,PPP schemes

AHW national president Jossel Ebesete said the Aquino government has
been imposing budget cuts in the operations of most public hospitals.
Since 2010, the government, Ebesete said, has been reducing allotments
for direct service provisions like vaccinations, as well as removing
subsidies for the hospitalization needs of indigent patients..... MORE

The UN General Assembly is due to vote on a second draft resolution
stipulating the removal of President Assad to end the spiraling violence
in Syria. It is the second attempt at passing a resolution after China
and Russia vetoed the first document.

The new resolution supports the Arab League initiative to facilitate
transition to a democratic government will be put to vote later on
Thursday.

Russia objects to the paragraph demanding the
resignation of President Assad and wants amendments to the draft calling
for the disarmament of opposition groups as well as government forces.
Arab delegations have dismissed the Russian amendments as unacceptable,
claiming they undermine the draft resolution’s message..... MORE

In 2012 America will become a battlefield of the will of the people
against the will of the government, proclaims Gerald Celente, the
founder of the Trends Research Institute and publisher of the Trends
Journal.

­The Occupy Wall Street movement has gone global and that is evidence that “people a keep kind of latch on to it”.

“Even
though you think the American spirit is dead, the whole world kind of
focuses on the US for the center of social, economic, geopolitical and
cultural change,” claims Celente, who said OWS inspired people in
an estimated 80 countries and 120 cities. And police brutality only
brought it to the forefront..... MORE

Millions of computer users across the world could be blocked off from
the Internet as early as March 8 if the FBI follows through with plans
to yank a series of servers originally installed to combat corruption.

Last year, authorities in Estonia apprehended six men believed
responsible for creating a malicious computer script called the
DNSChanger Trojan. Once set loose on the Web, the worm corrupted
computers in upwards of 100 countries, including an estimated 500,000 in
America alone. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation later stepped up
by replacing the rogue Trojan with servers of their own in an attempt to
remediate the damage, but the fix was only temporary. Now the FBI is
expected to end use of those replacement servers as early as next month
and, at that point, the Internet for millions could essentially be over..... MORE

02/16/2012
“The State …shall equally protect the
life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception.”
(Philippine Constitution: Section 12).

Thus reads the categorical
State policy on the protection of the “life” of the “unborn” from the
moment of “conception.” The more salient observations that can be drawn
from the above cited constitutional provision are the following: That in
the order of nature, the essential sequence is conception that brings
forth life which in turn ushers forth the unborn — all as one composite
reality. That without life, there is nothing really worth to talk about,
nothing truly important to bother with. That intrinsic right of the
unborn is premised on the fact that it is only there from that someone
is born..... MORE

02/16/2012
Dear Editor:
In the Feb.
13, 2012 issue of The Daily Tribune, Mr. Charlie V. Manalo alleged
(Prosecution spokesman also building house in ritzy village, Page 1)
that I own what he described as a multimillion-peso three-story house in
Varsity Hills, Quezon City, quoting unnamed sources. A picture of said
house with a specific address at 152 B.Gonzales St., Varsity Hills,
Loyola Heights, Quezon City was also provided.

This is totally untrue and nothing but a fairy tale.

I
do not own the mentioned property. I have never been to Varsity Hills
and in fact I do not even know where it was located until yesterday
morning. Neither do I, my spouse nor any of my children own a property
in Xavierville or Varsity Hills Subdivision..... MORE

American
military bases seem to be returning to the Philippines under President
Aquino’s government, despite the 1987 Constitution banning the stay of
foreign military bases

It is being done in such a circuitous way that circumvents the constitutional proviso on military bases.

The
United States is eyeing the transfer of some of the thousands of
American troops stationed in Okinawa to the Philippines as Washington
reduces its military presence in the Japanese island, where residents
have called for the shutdown of its large military base..... MORE

02/16/2012
Argentinian officials in Manila
yesterday apologized to the Philippines after a Filipino boxer was
attacked by enraged fans moments after winning over his local opponent
in Buenos Aires, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said, adding a
protest has already been lodged to the government of Argentina conveying
its dismay over the incident.

The DFA also said Argentinian boxer
Luis Alberto Lazarte, who lost his International Boxing Federation
(IBF) super-flyweight title to Johnriel Casimero in a bout Saturday,
personally apologized to the Filipino boxer and his team.

Outraged
Philippine senators demanded the recall of the Philippine Ambassador to
Argentina Rey Carandang, accusing him of failure to protect the welfare
of the Filipino boxing delegation..... MORE

The presiding
judge of the Senate Court has spoken and his order must be complied with
by the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) officials called upon as
witnesses for the prosecution.

Bank executives, appearing as
witnesses in the ongoing impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief
Justice Renato Corona, yesterday stood their ground in their declaration
that the prosecution panel’s alleged evidence is a “fake.”

If it
is proven that the documents pertaining to some alleged undisclosed bank
accounts of the chief magistrate in the PSBank which two members of the
House prosecution panel claimed to have been produced by an “anonymous
source,” members of the lower house defending the case face serious
sanctions..... MORE

The Office of
the Ombudsman said yesterday it could not be able to conduct an inquiry
on the alleged non-disclosure of statements of assets, liabilities and
networth (SALn) of the prosecutors involved in the impeachment trial of
Chief Justice Renato Corona due to “lack of sufficient leads.”

The
supposed probe will also involve the prosecution spokesmen as well as
the senator-judges of the impeachment court, said Edgardo Diansuy,
director of the Ombudsman’s media bureau.

He said in a statement
emailed to Tribune that Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales would not
initiate an inquiry because there were no enough leads to push through
with it..... MORE

02/16/2012
Retrieval operations at the
landslide-hit villages in Negros Oriental province were extended up
tomorrow after which the areas will be declared as common memorial sites
for the 63 people who remained unaccounted for after the Feb. 6
magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Visayas region.

National Disaster
Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director
Undersecretary Benito Ramos said the local government officials set the
retrieval operations in Guihulngan City and La libertad town until
yesterday to focus more to the rehabilitation efforts.

“Until
Friday, it should be today (Thursday) as requested by the mayor, so I
extended it for another day tomorrow. We have not recovered additional
(victims)…63 remained missing and 42 are dead,” Ramos said..... MORE

Four brand new
night-capable, combat utility helicopters arrived in the country on
Tuesday night as part of the ongoing multibillion-peso capability
upgrade and modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP).

AFP deputy chief of staff for plans and programs Maj. Gen.
Roy Deveraturda said the four Polish-made Sokol utility helicopters,
which are part of the eight helicopters purchased from Augusta PZL
Swidnik of Italy and Poland, arrived in Clark Air Base in Pampanga.

“We
are presently inspecting them…they will be assembled in Clark Air Base
by our assessment of the Philippine Air Force. So, as soon as possible
we could use them,” Deveraturda said..... MORE

The historic
Manila Cathedral will officially close indefinitely to give way to a
structural retrofitting amid concerns that the “liquefaction” in the
soil on which it stands could render it at risk in a strong earthquake,
the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (RCAM) chief announced Monday.

At
a press conference, newly appointed Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio
Tagle said since last Tuesday the Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica
of the Immaculate Conception has been closed due to some structural
concerns.

The 441-year-old church will not accept any bookings of
weddings, christenings and funeral Masses for the next seven months or
even one year..... MORE

02/16/2012
The Manila Police District (MPD) was
surprised when members of militant group Gabriela stormed on
Valentine’s Day the heavily secured Pandacan oil depot and staged a
rally to denounce the unabated increase in petroleum prices. According
to the group, the .85 centavos increase in the price of diesel products
and .50 centavos in gasoline after successive price increases are too
much for the poor who are the most affected.